FIFA World Cup 2026 draw: Teams, pots, how to watch and all to know

The FIFA World Cup draw is an event that comes around only once every four years – but it can do plenty to determine a football nation’s morale heading into the sport’s most prestigious global competition.

The 2026 tournament – to be held in the United States, Canada and Mexico – features a record 48 teams, with this draw adding a few new tweaks to spread out the contenders from the pretenders.

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Here is all you need to know before the all-important little plastic balls are allocated to their pots:

When and where is the FIFA World Cup 2026 draw?

The draw will begin at the John F Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, DC, on Friday, December 5, at 12 noon (17:00 GMT).

How does the World Cup draw work?

The draw will begin with Pot 1 and the 12 seeded teams, as determined by FIFA, being drawn into Groups A to L. These teams comprise:

• Top four-ranked nations: Spain, Argentina, France and England
• Next five best-seeded nations: Belgium, Brazil, Germany, Netherlands and Portugal
• Three seeded spots allocated to the host nations: Canada, Mexico and USA

The process will then continue with Pots 2, 3, and 4, in that order, FIFA explained.

Six more World Cup spots remain to be filled among the 22 nations still in contention through the playoffs in March.

Italy, four-time World Cup winners and 12th in the FIFA rankings, are in the playoffs and could find themselves in Pot 4 if they qualify.

Debutants Uzbekistan are in Pot 3, while fellow first-timers Jordan, Cape Verde and Curacao are in Pot 4.

The FIFA World Cup 2026 draw will be held at the John F Kennedy Center in Washington, DC, on Friday [File: Aaron Schwartz/Reuters]

What are the rules of the World Cup draw?

Each nation’s name is printed on a slip of paper, which is then folded and placed inside a plastic ball numbered 1 to 4 to represent one of the four pots.

Draw representatives mix up the balls in large glass bowls (pots) – and then extract one ball at a time from each pot to form the groups.

The three host nations have predetermined groups: Mexico in Group A, Canada in Group B, and USA in Group D.

The other top nine FIFA-seeded nations will be spread across the remaining nine groups: C, E, F, G, H, I, J, K, and L.

There is less certainty for the remaining 36 teams, but specific rules do apply:

• In principle, no group will have more than one team from the same confederation drawn into it.
• UEFA teams, which comprise 16 nations, are the exception to the rule – up to two European teams can be drawn into the same group.

When can the top seeds play each other at the World Cup?

The 2026 World Cup draw rewards the four highest-ranked teams – Spain, Argentina, France and England – who will be placed in separate sections, or quadrants, of a new tennis-style seeded tournament bracket.

FIFA said the top four nations, if they finish top of their respective round-robin groups, will avoid each other until the semifinals.

Defending champions Argentina (No 2 ranked) with Lionel Messi and top-ranked European champions Spain (No 1 ranked) with Lamine Yamal, therefore, can ensure they do not meet until the final at MetLife Stadium near New York.

Should top-ranked Spain and No 2 Argentina finish top of their groups, a dream Lamine Yamal-Lionel Messi World Cup matchup could only occur in the final on July 19 [File: Luis Robayo and Franck Fife/AFP]

Which other teams are in the pots?

Forty-two of the 48 teams have now qualified for the World Cup, with the remaining six nations to be determined in March 2026.

Teams will be randomly drawn from each of the four pots and assigned to one of the 12 groups in Friday’s draw:

Pot 1: Canada, Mexico, USA, Spain, Argentina, France, England, Brazil, Portugal, Netherlands, Belgium, Germany (three host nations and nine top-seeded)

Pot 2: Croatia, Morocco, Colombia, Uruguay, Switzerland, Japan, Senegal, Iran, South Korea, Ecuador, Austria, Australia

Pot 3: Norway, Panama, Egypt, Algeria, Scotland, Paraguay, Tunisia, Ivory Coast, Uzbekistan, Qatar, South Africa

Pot 4: Jordan, Cape Verde, Ghana, Curacao, Haiti, New Zealand, European playoff winners A, B, C and D, Intercontinental playoff winners 1 and 2

Why is Iran boycotting the World Cup draw?

Iran has decided to boycott the World Cup draw because the US denied visas to members of its delegation, the state-run IRNA news agency reported on Friday.

The agency quoted Iranian football federation spokesman Amir-Mahdi Alavi as saying that officials faced visa obstacles that go beyond sporting considerations.

There was no immediate comment from the White House.

Alavi said the federation had reached out to FIFA and hoped it could help resolve the issue.

President Donald Trump’s administration announced in June a travel ban on citizens from 12 countries, including Iran, although exemptions were promised for “any athlete or member of an athletic team, including coaches, persons performing a necessary support role, and immediate relatives, traveling for the World Cup, Olympics, or other major sporting event as determined by the secretary of state”.

It is unclear whether the exemptions also apply to the World Cup draw.

How to watch

Live coverage of the 2026 World Cup draw will be provided on FIFA.com and the FIFA World Cup social media channels. The draw will also be broadcast by FIFA’s media partners.

Al Jazeera Sport will provide live text commentary of the draw.

A replica of Trionda, the official match ball for the FIFA World Cup 2026, at the FIFA headquarters, Zurich, Switzerland, on November 20, 2025 [Denis Balibouse/Reuters]